CUCM 7.1 Pub new IP address

Hey Netpros, I need some advice. I have a Pub and 2 Subs in my cluster all in the same building. For DR purposes, I need to move my Pub to our datacenter a couple blocks away. The datacenter resides on a separate VLAN and will require an IP address change. Here are the two options that I am looking at using to get this done. Please weigh in on what you think would be the best.

I will have a 9 hour maintenance window to complete this task. Thanks.

1. The quick but risky way:

Remove the existing Pub from the rack, carry it over to the datacenter, rack it, re-IP it, then work on getting all the db replication working. What if I get over there and the server won't boot. I've seen plenty of hardware problems stem from simply moving a physical machine from one place to another. I will be scrambling to get the system back online by 8 AM the next day when agents login using Ext Mobility which will not work without the Publisher.

2. The longer but safer way:

Shut down the Publisher, re-build my secondary subscriber and restore it with the Publisher's backup, then take it over to the datacenter and re-IP it. If there is a problem, I can simply shut it down, walk back over to my corp office and fire up the original Publisher.

At step 5, instead of restarting the old pub, shut it down, turn on the one in the datacenter (already configured with new IP that subs will look for) and restart the subs.

Now, it won't be as easy as walking back to corp office and turn on the old pub, as it will still point itself to the new ip that belongs to a different vlan, so you would need to revert the changes.

The 2 main reasons, 1st as you said, avoid hardware problems when moving the server, and 2nd, if replication cannot be brougth up from the datacenter, it will be quicker to just move yourself back to HQ and rebuild the server if needed.

Re: CUCM 7.1 Pub new IP address

Jose, thank you very much for the reply.

There are a couple points that I don't quite understand though.

1. Rebuild the sub and restore from backup as the new pub within the datacenter. (If I build the new Pub in the datacenter I would have to use the new IP address. I thought you could only restore a Pub that has the same IP as your backup?)

4. From the real pub, change the IP. Here is the key: you need the pub to propagate the IP change. (Why do this part? Doesn't this negate having a backout plan in case the Sub I brought to the datacenter and build as a new Pub has a problem?)

Re: CUCM 7.1 Pub new IP address

Correct, you would rebuild with the same IP as in the back up file then re-ip it. If not, probably you'll get something like

Cannot get processnode list when restoring. Just rebuild the sub as pub within the datacenter, so you have it all in place at both sides.

About the second question. Yes, it negates your backout plan. Otherwise, how would we be able to tell the subscribers to point to the new Publisher IP?

Now, discussing this with one of my coworkers we came to the conclusion that the second option might fail during the restore process if the Publisher we are rebuilding is not on the environment the backup expects (NPT, DNS, so forth). Discussing a bit further we came to realize that the whole idea behind option 2 is just to cover our backs in case there is a hardware failure when moving the server. Thinking about that, we believe there will be more chances to see a backup failure or some sort of software level failure, than a hardware failure (unless you want to carry the server carelessly from one place to the other).

Option 1 might be better (riskier from a hardware perspective) because the processes involved at the application level are less. For example, you wouldn't have to worry about replacing the first node in the cluster with a different box (License issues).

So to summarize, change the pub's IP address, move the server to the datacenter, deal with any possible issues afterward. I have also seen lots of hardware issues rise after a hardware move, but in this case.... I rather prefer this last option.

CUCM 7.1 Pub moving to new network

I'm getting ready to complete this move this weekend but there is one thing I am still unclear on. My Publisher server is moving from our corporate office to a datacenter down the street. I'm not sure if I shoud change the IP of the Publisher before I unplug it and physically move it to the datacenter, or if I should move it, then change the IP.

My thought is I need to do it before moving it in order to let the subscribers know about the change. Any thoughts?

The short answer is that you don't.... That isn't entirely true while at
the same time it kind of is, but for the most part you don't configure
the softkeys. You enable or disable them via TCL. Here is the long
answer. Be sure to read the whole thing or e...
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